The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1887-12-09
FOOT WEAR.
The GREAT STRIDES MADE IN
SHOEMAKING.
The Man of the Lapstone Has Be
come the Shoemaking Witch OF
To-day-Greater Cheapness
"A Revolutionized Trade.

/ II ANYTHING is more wonderful in the
! history of shoemaking than the rapla
2 progress Of the art since the Adoption o.
t the Mckay machines, in 1862, 1t Is tue
slow progress made by shoemakers duf
: ing the sixteen centuries that interviewed
between the days of St. Crispin and the
later date. The old fashioned bench
still used BY cobblers and small work
Il men, and around which, when urchlns,
s many now living but not old men nave
watched the progress of their new shoes
With the conviction that shoemakers
~ we're the most untruthful men in exist
: nee, must, from all evidence, have had
ae cry remote origin
IN Even vet the old-fashioned shoemaker
ID myers, though not by any means super
ious, on the stage. The sign OF the
lv I,lden boot has not yet quite vanished
he altered all over this city, and every
ner city, may still be found numberlesS
,w all shops which may now be called
.re seums for most Of the old-fashioned
he elements of shoemaking, and where
traditional shoemaker, leather aproned
DIV : bare armed, still reigns. But the
the CITY of his calling has departed. he
the NJ confine himself mainly to the recent
her sehon of old shoes, practicing his ar
one completeness in the meantime only
,ess Dig spare hours, when he may prepare
i-cSn.nuen or customer, who will be
u way,ssFet remain, bSspmetimes unhappy
, ~ IL perpetual al ghe thai peun
doWntrom the great factories and over.
whelmt everything in its track -
! No Industrial revolution was 49,.
more eoaplete than the revolution which
mas takea place in shoemaking during the
iast tweaty five years. The cobbler we
snail always have with US; but the shoe
maker has almost completely cbapged
his form. 1t is to be feared. too. thaf he
!: no longer entitled to claim -,,=otec-
non ~ MS '','SsTal %. Crispin, for he
-.as become the servant of a witch. And
such a WITCH Driven to its highest
capacity, single Mckay machine has
oeen known to clap the soles upon !, 200
PAIRS OF new shoes within ten hours. and
II takes 300 hands, working in great
part with yet other ingenious labor7sav-
ing machines, to feed one of these in
satlable stitchers, and clear away the
tables after it has finished. 1t will be
seen, therefore, that the Mckay machine
Is not only witch itself, but that it is a
boss witch. In the best-proyided shops
the side stitching, heeling and even the
lasting are done by subsidiary machines.
and so also would be the cutting were Il
not for the imperfections of the leather.
which demand the services of a practised
eye In selecting the parts that are fit for
use Yet the work is done with so little
effort that motor of single horse power
would drive half dozen or more Of the
Mckay machines at one and the same
time. 7a''''
Who would believe that within n mile
and half of the City Hall, mainly, in
deed, within quarter of mile of thai
place, there are almost as many firms Of
shoe manufacturers as are to be found n
either OF the cities of Lynn or Hayer-
mil. The statement would not be be-
ievea were it not possible to furnish the
lgures. But it is quite possible. There
ire ls6 firms in Lynn, IFS in Hayerbiu
ma l12 IN New York. In New Yorl2
ne factories are massed in Duane, Reade
I M mnaTren streets. With a skirmish lima
nortnWard 70 Some distance
'eyond Canal street. 1t should he said
loweyer, that about twenty-five of the +,
actorles owned by New York firms are I
oeated outside of the city, thor>-i
7 In the vicinity n